Turning 50: The tragedy of Tonkin Gulf

By Robert Lehrman, contributor

http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/defense/214011-turning-50-the-tragedy-of-tonkin-gulf#ixzz39WU4BGla
They came in from the west: three North Vietnamese patrol boats, halting five miles from the USS Maddox. The Maddox fired first. One Vietnamese boat launched a torpedo. Then the boats raced away, strafed by U.S. jets. One boat sank.
So, at least on the first day there was a battle. A few nights later President Lyndon Johnson was on TV, describing two attacks, reassuring Americans we "seek no wider war," and asking Congress for the power to take "all necessary measures" against "open aggression on the high seas against the United States of America." A year later, we had almost 200,000 troops in Vietnam.
Aside from noting the Tonkin Gulf anniversary, what is the point of examining what happened 50 years ago this week?http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/defense/214011-turning-50-the-tragedy-of-tonkin-gulf#ixzz39WU4BGla